Your Black Star = Workers

It's not that uncommon to see a band change its name. Many get to the point where once they start to garner some attention outside of their hometown, they find out there is a band in Latvia that has dibs on their moniker, or there was some obscure 60's one hit wonder whose last remaining member vehemently defends the rights to their former glory. But unless your name is Prince, it's rare to see a band have a name change after seven years and four albums. So I was a bit surprised earlier this week when I got a myspace bulletin from Louisville's Your Black Star announcing they are now known as Workers. I thought that maybe all the recent talk of the rampant socialism that is apparently infecting our society (according to Fox News) had inspired them to pay tribute to the proletariat, but it turns out it's much simpler than that...

"We hated it. It's a difficult name to explain to new people ("Your what?") and it's easy to get wrong. In truth we've wanted to change it for quite a while but never got around to it."

I can testify firsthand to the confusion that their old name sometimes inspired. I got the "Your Black what?" comment more than once when talking to people about them. So while their new nom de guerre may be much less google-able, it wins out on being simple and succinct. So... same members, same songs, just a new name.

The first release under the new name will be their self-titled fifth album, Workers. Recorded in Austin this summer with producer Erik Wofford (The Black Angels, Explosions In The Sky, Snowden), it's scheduled for release at the end of January. I got a sneak peak at it today, but I honestly can't tell you much about it, because I haven't been able to stop listening to the opening track. With its echo drenched guitar riffs and absolutely monstrous drums, it's jaw-droppingly awesome. Even if the rest of the album is only half this good, it'll be one hell of a record.

Workers - "Revolutions" (mp3)

UPDATE (11/18/08): So in the past few days, I've finally managed to get past the first song on the album, and... holy shit. It's fucking amazing. It's been on nonstop repeat on my Ipod since last Friday. And as great as this song is, it's not even the best track on the album. I don't want to say too much about it since I still have to write a proper review of it, and the release date isn't for another two months, but it's easily the best thing the guys have done (and that's saying a lot, I loved Sound From The Ground). If it weren't for the fact it won't be out until January, it'd be my favorite album of 2008. It's already safe to say it'll be at the top of my list for 2009.

And in case you're late to the movie and need to be caught up on the plot to date, here are a couple of tracks from their back catalog...

Your Black Star - "Surrounded" (mp3) from Sound From The Ground
Your Black Star - "Lousy Smarch Weather" (mp3) from Your Black Star/Drumkan